That Time I Won A Book By Being Embarrassing On The Internet

Every now and again the internet provides us with a chance to win some free stuff. And who doesn’t love free stuff, especially when said free stuff happens to be a book?

Am I right, or am I right?

Whilst doing my usual scroll through Twitter I came across a competition being run by The Regal Fox, an Australian-based website that showcases new writing. Each month they provide two different themes that you can pick from, or you can choose to mix the themes together. If you’re an aspiring writer it’s a great way to get some exposure!

The Regal Fox were giving away a copy of The Writers Room, which is a compilation of interviews with successful authors. The interviews focus on sharing the creative experience and processes experienced by working writers across a variety of genres.

“I want them to illuminate something of the way a writer works – the hows and whys and mysteries and surprises of the creative process… At a time when the coverage of literature seems so fiercely focused on the turnover of product and prizes and promotion, I hope these interviews will stand, over time, as a record of how Australian literature is made – honouring the writers, their work and each of their particular creative tracks.”

As someone who has always loved reading and writing and is interested in the creative process, I really wanted to get my hands on a copy of this book.

Thanks to The Regal Fox, all I had to do was answer a quirky question on Twitter;

“What is the weirdest writing tip you’ve received?”

I thought long and hard about my answer. For awhile I could only think of the typical tips like, ‘show don’t tell,’ and, ‘write every day’ and, ‘read widely’ and, ‘learn to take criticism’ – tips that every aspiring author has heard a thousand million times before.

But then I thought back to my last semester at university where I participated in a creative writing course. After not having written a story in a long time, I had desperately taken to the internet in search of some quality writing tips. And one answer in particular was incredibly strange and definitely fell into the category of ‘the weirdest writing tip I have ever received’.

While other people posted strange tips like;

“Make every sentence a punch. Never a slap or a push and certainly not a caress.”

and,

“Sleep in the same room as your manuscript.”

My weird writing tip was declared the outright winner. So by now, you must be dying to know what my fabulously weird, prize-winning writing tip is. Here you go, brace yourself;

Yes, that’s right everyone. I won a book competition by talking about poop… on the internet.

My copy of The Writers Room arrived in the mail today and I still don’t know whether I’m proud of myself for winning a competition or embarrassed that I tweeted about bowel movements.

All I know is that I’m super happy to have a copy of the book and I can’t wait to read it!

So, all of you bloggers / writers / readers out there – do you have any weird writing tips? I can’t give you a copy of the book but I’d love to hear your thoughts and any other crazy tips that are floating around out there in the writing community.

Oh, and if you want more exciting updates you can follow me on Twitter – I promise I’ll never Tweet about bowel movements ever again.